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Arizonans more worried about drivers on cell phones than drivers with guns
Story in extended remarks, below.
[Hat tip to Landis Aden]
April 27, 2007
Cell phones bigger road fear than guns, statewide survey finds
HOWARD FISCHER, CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
Arizonans are more concerned about motorists with cell phones than they are about those with guns.
A new statewide survey shows residents nearly evenly divided on the question of whether it should be illegal for drivers to have loaded weapons in their vehicles.
Fred Solop, who conducted the poll for the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University, found 48 percent of those questioned support a law to make it illegal to drive while armed.
By contrast, Solop said 54 percent of the 602 people questioned think it should be a crime to talk on the cell phone while behind the wheel. That figure rose to 62 percent when people were asked if it should be a crime to try to send and receive text messages while driving.
So why are Arizonans more comfortable with guns in vehicles?
Solop said some of it may simply be that so many people already drive while armed. He said a survey conducted several years ago showed more than 14 percent of people questioned admitted they actually have weapons in their cars.
The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
2 Comments | Leave a comment
Or, you know, we simply recognize that a lump of metal that's sitting passively in your lap isn't nearly as potentially distracting as a cell phone?
So why are Arizonans more comfortable with guns in vehicles?
Because we know that an Armed Society is a polite (and safe) society. We can open carry almost everywhere in the state, and concealed carry is very wide-spread. Sure we have some problems, but not even close to the amount that our neighbors to the west do.